A dispute over severance pay between a former sales executive with Compass Marketing, David J. Boshea and the Annapolis firm ended in Federal District court on February 28, 2024 when a jury found in favor of Boshea on all counts and awarded him $540,000.
Even though former Compass employees Daniel White and Michael White still hold shares in the firm, they assisted Boshea in his effort to force Compass to fork over the severance pay called for in his agreement. Compass contested the existence of any such agreement, but the jury decided there was an oral agreement.
Daniel White was the counsel for the firm prior to being dismissed amidst allegations that he, Michael White, James C. DiPaula, and Patrick Miller stole trade secrets owned by Compass when they set up a competing firm, Flywheel Digital. Flywheel was then sold to Ascential which later was sold off to yet another firm. The litigation filed in Federal Court by Boshea in 2021 racked up intense depositions both in person and by video with charges and countercharges blasting the other parties.
In 2023, when the Commission on Judicial Disabilities held a reprimand hearing on Judge Michael White, Chief Judge of the St. Mary’s Orphans Court, White, without a lawyer, held the fort for his own defense and displayed video of his brother John White making a 911 report of an alleged kidnapping attempt.
Judge Michael White said he got the video from “the police.” An investigation underway by the Annapolis Police Department is trying to determine how Judge White obtained the video without going through proper procedures on a obtaining public record. The video was not redacted as required by law.